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Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden is a big believer that “single player, narrative-driven gaming is here to stay,” saying it’s “what sustains” the business.
When you think of PlayStation’s greatest hits, chances are, you’re going to think of a whole bunch of single-player games. Whether it’s The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted, or Ghost of Tsushima, there’s no doubt that games like this have been huge drivers of PlayStation’s success, and although Sony has delved more into the world of live-service in recent years (to mixed success), Layden – former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment America – says it’s with single-player games the games business was built, and what’ll continue to keep it going.
“I firmly believe that single player, narrative-driven gaming is here to stay,” he tells PSI in an interview on YouTube (below). “It’s how we built this business. That’s what sustains it. It’s a type of game where you can enjoy it by yourself and talk to friends about it. Maybe there’s multiplayer, maybe there isn’t.
“But I think essentially most of our great gaming experiences are when we allow ourselves to be immersed in that world with that character, to learn that story, more so than ‘I got online with a bunch of friends and we played team deathmatch.'”
That’s not to say that live-service games don’t have their place, of course. Helldivers 2, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, has been hugely successful since its launch two years ago. However, we’ve obviously also seen a lot of live-service horror stories – Concord didn’t even last two weeks before it was shut down for good, and while it still has plenty of fans, Destiny 2 has been in decline for a long time at this point, so much so that it’s now received its final update.
It’s worth noting that Layden’s comments were made before Sony’s announcement that it’s killing physical discs for new PlayStation games in 2028, so he’s not responding to that backlash here. In a separate interview about that decision, Layden called the move “dramatic,” and suggested it could “heavily influence” Xbox and Nintendo’s approach to physical games going forward.